Despite the large number of regional and global summits
there is very little known about the functioning and impact
of this particular type of diplomatic practice. While
recognizing that the growing importance of summits is a
universal phenomenon, this volume takes advantage of
the richness of the Americas experiment to offer a
theoretically grounded comparative analysis of
contemporary summitry. The book addresses questions
such as: How effective have summits been? How have civil
society and non-state actors been involved in summits?
How have summits impacted on the management of
regional affairs? Filling a significant void in the literature,
this volume offers an original contribution helping to
understand how summitry has become a central feature
of world politics.